Peter Jackson Confirms The Hobbit Will Be Three Films

Last week, Paste reported that the third film in Jackson’s Hobbit series was a possibility. Fortunately for Tolkien fans, this possibility has turned reality. Jackson said in a statement:

“Upon recently viewing a cut of the first film, and a chunk of the second, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and I were very pleased with the way the story was coming together. We recognized that the richness of the story of The Hobbit, as well as some of the related material in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, gave rise to a simple question: do we tell more of the tale? And the answer from our perspective as filmmakers and fans was an unreserved ‘yes.’”

Jackson said he’s filled his first two films with additional information that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote later in the appendix of The Return of the King. With this announcement comes a brand new release date, which is rumored to be around summer of 2014. According to Bleeding Cool, two possible titles for the third film could be Riddles in the Dark or The Desolation of Smaug. These titles have both been registered by Warner Bros.